Study II - Long

Long -- paths of the soul, Yafei Li, ca.2017

Long -- paths of the soul, Yafei Li, ca.2017

A film, paths of the soul, a documentary should be called more precisely. It was released quietly in mainland China in 2017. Almost every cinema is occupied by Transformers at that time because of huge profit. There is even no shelter for this tiny documentary. I looked for a long time and found it in a very small cinema finally.

The story was recorded in 2015, which is the year of the horse, and is also a very meaningful year for Kangrinboge, the most mysterious mountain in Tibet. A lot of people in the small village wanted to join the pilgrimage team of Nima. There were a old man, a pregnant woman, a butcher, a disabled teenager, a little young girl...... Everyone had a different story and carried their own hopes. In order to reach the pilgrimage focus, Kangrinboge, this team of eleven saints set foot on a year-long, up to 2000 miles of pilgrimage road......

No climax, no ups and downs. On this long road, they had experienced birth, illness and death. With faith, they were able to open-minded look at everything. Finally, when they saw Potala Palace, when they stood at the foot of Kangrinboge, their hearts were excited but calm. The physical torture cast a continuation of their souls, and the strength of the soul should make them bearish on the body.

In the same year, 2015, after the four years of college life, before coming to Berkeley, I decided to drive from Beijing to Lhasa, and then to the foot of Everest. Two people, one car, 6000 miles, 25 days. We met two groups of saints pilgrimaging to Lhasa on the way. They were not as rich as those people in the documentary. No tractor followed the team. Just two or three, pulling a cart to the front, going back to the beginning, kowtowed.